Cotton stripper



M. W. ROSCOE COTTON STRIPPER Dec. 15, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 OriginalFiled April 5, 1945 VENTOR. M .W. QOSCOE M. w. ROSCOE COTTON STRIPPERDec. 15, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed April 5, 1945 NLW ROSCOEQ. NF E o! Patented Dec. 15, 1953 Merrill W. Roscoe, Moline, 111.,assignor to Deere & Company, Moline, 111., a corporation of Illi! noisOriginal application April "'5, '194'5, Serial No. 586,780. Divided andthis application July 7', 195.0, Serial No. 172,529

4 claims. 1

The present invention relates generally to cot! ton harvesters and moreparticularly to harvesters of the stripper type, and has .for its princ-ipal object the provision of a novel and improved cotton stripper thatoperates more efiiciently and gathers less trash along with the cotton,but which is simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture.

This invention is in the nature of an improvement over the cottonstripper disclosed in Patent 2,045,633, granted June 30, 1936, to Courtand is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 586,780, filedApril 5, 1945, now Patent No, 2,533,510. Strippers of this type areprovided with a stripping roll and a concave stripper plate disposedalongside the roll, th cotton plants being received between the roll andthe plate as the machine advances through the field and the strippedcotton being moved laterally into a cleaning trough which contains anumber of rotary beaters for agitating the bolls and causing the stemsand leaves to drop through the perfcrated bottom of the trough.

Under some conditions of operation, in which the bolls of cotton arevery easily separated from the plants, it is desirable to provide lessaggressive stripping means so that less trash in the form of stems,leaves, and dirt, is separated from the plants and results in a muchcleaner harvested crop. However, I have found that merely removing thepegs or teeth from the stripper roll introduces other problems, forthere is then no means for urging the stripped cotton bolls laterallyinto the cleaning trough, with the result that the bolls tend to ride ontop of the roll and stripper plate.

One of the objects of my invention, therefore, has to do with theprovision of apparatus for urging the stripped cotton bolls laterallyinto the cleaning trough.

Another object of the invention concerns the provision of means forcausing air currents to move transversely across the stripping means forthe purpose of facilitating the transfer of cotton from the strippingmeans to the receiving trough. A further object resides in theutilization of com-. bination agitating and air-current-inducing meansfor this purpose, the agitating means be, ing in the form of a pluralityof radial arms adapted t p sit v ly n a e a d move the cotton once it,has been received in the trough and the other means c mprising lade theIorm of radiala ms having such pitch and. characteristics as tofacilitate the lateral tra; icr or the cotton asstated above.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparentto those skilled the art after a consideration of the following dcscription, in which reference is had to the draw? ings appended hereto,in which Figure l is a sid elevational view of a. tractor mounted cottonharvester embodying the p int ciples of my invention, the outer cover ofthe iine plement and the near wheel of the tractor being removed to showthe details of the driving mechanism.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of the. hare vesting drawn to anenlarged scale, and taken in section along the line 2-2 in Figure 3. vFigure 3 is a plan view of the harvesting unit, drawn to the same scaleas Figure 2, portions 01' the walls being broken away to show the mecha,nism Within the housing and parts of the mecha-- nism beingshowninsection.

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 4+4 inFigure 2.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 5-5 inFigure 3, showing a device for lateral adjustment of the side wall ofthe, housing.

I Figure 6 is a fragmentary bottom view as viewed along a line 66 inFigure 4, showing another provision for lateral adjustment oi the sidewall of the housing.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary top plan view showing a harvester unit mountedon one side of a tractor.

The tractor, indicated in its entirety by reference numeral [0,comprises a narrow longitudinally extending irame I l mounted on acentrally disposed dirigible wheel truck I2 at its forward end andhaving conventional rear axle housings 13 within which are journaleddrive axles I4 carried on laterally spaced traction wheels 15.

The cotton harvester comprises a gathering and cleaning unit I6 and anelevating unit l'l for conveying the harvested cotton to a wagon ortrailer (not shown). The gathering unit I6 is mounted on the rear axlehousing 13 of the tractor between the body or frame H and one tree-.-tion wheel 15, by means providing for vertical swing ng movement about atransverse axis.

The gathering unit i6 includes an angle iron frame comprising a yoke l8consistingcf an upper transverse angle member 19 and a pair of down;wardly and forwardly inclined, laterally spaced inner and outer anglemembers 20, 2|. A pair of laterally spaced angle members 22, 22 are Seecured to the upper portions of the inclined frame members 2!, 28,respectively, and extend generally horizontally rearwardly therefrom,forming the upper longitudinally extending corners of the frame l6.Inner and outer laterally spaced vertical side sheets 24, are mounted attheir forward ends on the frame members 28, 2|, respec-- tively, andextend rearwardly therefrom, their upper edges being fixed to thehorizontally disposed frame members 22', 22. An angle iron frame member23 is secured by bolts 28 to the inner side wall 24. The sheets 24, 25form a plant-receiving passage 26 therebetween, within which the row ofcotton plants is received for harvesting as the implement advances inthe field.

The cotton bolls are stripped from the plants by means of a rotatablestripper element or roll 38, which is generally cylindrical in shape andwhich extends longitudinally below the passageway between the two Sidewalls 24, 25. This roll is inclined forwardly and downwardly and has aconical forward end 3| which guides the plant between the roll and asecond stripper element in the form of a stripper plate 32 mounted onthe inner wall 24 and extending alongside of and parallel to thestripper roll. The plate has a concave stripping surface 33, spaced fromthe adjacent surface of the cylindrical roll 38 and formed on an arc ofcurvature about the axis of the roll. This space forms a continuous slotbetween the roll and the curved surface 33 through which the plants inthe row are drawn downwardly as the machine advances, while the rollrotates in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 4. The surface ofthe roll is provided with circumferentially spaced flutes or grooves 34for dislodging the cotton bolls upwardly from the plant as the latterare pulled through the slot by the forward movement of the machine. Thesurface 33 curves upwardly over the adjacent surface of the roll 38 toan edge above the latter, and the plate 32 has a top surface 35 whichinclines upwardly and laterally from the upper edge olfl the curvedsurface 33 to the inside of the wall 2 The roll 3!) is mounted rigidlyand coaxially shaft as is driven from the drive shaft 38 through a pairof intermeshing bevel gears 44, 45. The forward end of the rollsupporting shaft 36 is supported in a bearing member 46 on a bracket 41rigidly carried on the bottom of a housing portion 48 which extendslaterally from th outer side wall 25.

The cleaner housin 48 comprises a top wall 49 extending laterally fromthe lower edge 25' of the outer passage wall 25, an outer side wall 50substantially parallel to the wall 25, and a front end wall 5| curvingdownwardly from the top Wall 49. A bottom wall or floor means 52 withinthe housing 48 is provided with a plurality of laterally spaced slots53' through which dirt and trash from the cotton will drop to theground. Rotatable cleaning devices in the form of pin rolls 55, 56, 51',58 are provided Within the cleaner housing 48 for the purpose ofagitating the material stripped from the cotton plants, to separate thetrash and dirt from the cotton bolls and to propel the latter upwardlyand rearwardly over the floor 52 of the cleaner housing 48. f 1

.Each of the pin rolls comprises a transverse shaft 80 journaled in abearing sleeve 6! havin a supporting flange 82 secured by bolts 62' tothe outer side of the side wall 58. Each of the pin rolls is providedwith a cylindrical roll body 63 rigidly mounted on the shaft 60 on apair of axially spaced spiders 64, 84. The cylindrical body 63 carries aplurality of radial arms in the form of outwardly extending pins orfingers 85. Each of the pin rolls revolves in a counterclockwisedirection as viewed in Figure 2, and the fingers 65 are curved in atrailing direction and are adapted to positively engage the harvestedmaterial within the housing 48. The bottom wall 52 is sinuous to providetransverse troughs 68 be neath the rotatable pin rolls, with crests 88between the latter. Rotation of the rolls causes the fingers 55 toengage the cotton bolls lying in the troughs and to propel the bollsrearwardly over the perforated floor 52.

' A two-bladed propeller is mounted on the inner end of each of the pinroll shafts 88, the blades of each propeller 65 comprising radial armshaving a pitch adapted to urge the cotton bolls laterally over thestripper roll into the cleaner housing, and also to induce air currentstransversely across the top of the stripper roll 38 into the cleanerhousing 48, which air currents aid in moving the bolls laterally.

The housing 48 is also provided with an inner wall'6l substantially inthe plane of the wall 25 but having an upper edge 64 terminatin beneaththe stripper roll 38. This wall 61 is spaced from the wall 24 to definethe lower portion of the plant-receiving passage and prevents cottonfrom falling from the housing 48.

The upper pin roll 58 is mounted on the drive shaft 38, and the otherthree pin rolls are driven by power received from the upper shaft 38through a series of drive chains 10, each chain 18 being trained over apair of sprockets H fixed to each pair of adjacent shafts 68,respectively. The shaft 38 receives its power from a sheave 12, which inturn may be driven from any suitable rotating shaft. The drive chains I8and sprockets H are enclosed within a cover 13 mounted on the outer sideof the housing 48.

The gathering unit I6 is mounted on the tractor for vertical swingingmovement about the axis of'the drive shaft 38. This is accomplished bysupporting the inner end of the gear casing 31 in a journal bearing 15provided with a substantially horizontal flange 16, which is secured bybolts 11 to an L-shaped bracket '18 having a vertical leg mounted bybolts 19 on suitable bosses '18 on the front side of the tractor axlehousin [3. The outer end of the shaft 38 is rotatably supported on thetractor by means of a bearing member 80, within which the ball bearing48 is encased, the'member 88 being supported on an outer L-shapedbracket 8! which has a vertical leg 82 mounted on the forward side ofthe axle housing 13 in a manner similar to that described for the innerbracket 18.

- The gathering unit I6 is raised and lowered about the axis of theshaft 38 by means of a cable 85 connected at one end to a bracket 86which is rigidly mounted on the side of the tractor frame II. The cable85 passes forwardly and downwardly under a sheave 81 journaled on thegatherer frame and passes then rearwardly along the inner side of thegatherer unit and upwardly overs-sheave 88 journaled on the rear side ofthe tractor'axle' housing [3. The cable passes over a sheave'89journaled on a lifting arm 90 rigidly clamped to the tractor power liftrockshaft 9| by mean a a slapp ng devise 1 .2-

sable #5 passes devewa e v o the sheav 8. and is s tuned th t r t q y bme ns e a e t n hei 'the .7 rpm rais d h ta l :1 pulled upwardly overthe sheaves ,88, 89, thereby ra s n he he 1 a d th o wa end f thegathering It. Acounterbalancing ring 35 is ponneted between ,a lug95,911 the transverse fram m m l 9 an a ver iee suppo ti g plat "f re tth f ward sid o the ra n r axl housing I3.

T w d end of th gath ing unit i ca sed f om th roun b me n a sens when 10 ieu lna n an axle J01 arr ed between the forward ends of a forward endof the cleaner housing 48 Asupporting member I04 is fixe dto the air-1eIN and extends upwardly and rearwardly and is connected at its upper endto a arm i mount d on a t n v e roels he I06, which is journaled in apair of laterally spaced bearings I07 attached to the upper transverseframe member I9. A second crank arm M39 is attached to the rockshaftIlls and is connected b link ml to a hand 1ever m swingably mounted onthe top of the gathering unit 16 and associated with a suitable notchedsector I]? to which the lever is latched in adjusted position. Byswinging the lever III rearwardly, the link III] moves rearwardly,thereby rocking the rock shaft I06 to swing the arm I05 downwardly,

thereby pushing the gauge wheel I00 downwardly and raising the forwardend of the gathering unit It. This adjustment is made for adjusting thelower conical end 3I of the stripper roll 30.

The row of cotton plants is guided into the passage 25 between the walls24, 25 by means of a plant-receiving hood I I5 mounted on the forwardend of a tunnel II6, the sides and top of which form extensions of theside walls 24, 25 and top frame members 22, 22 of the gathering unit.

Inwardly converging guide members II'I guide the row of plants into aslot H8 between two guide rods II9 which lead to the slot between thestripper roll and the stripper plate 32. The curvature of the concavesurface 33 causes the plant to incline over the stripper roll 30 so thatthe bolls of cotton are engaged by the top of the stripper roll and arethrown laterally into the cleaner housing 48. This movement of thecotton is aided by the propeller blades 66. Any

bolls that drop on top of the stripper plate on the inclined surface 35slide or roll from the latter to the top of the stripper roll 3d and donot become lodged on the surface 35.

The spacing between the curved surface 33 of the stripper plate 32 andthe cylindrical stripper roll 3!! can be adjusted by shifting the entireinner wall 24 laterall relative to the stripper roll 35, since thestripper plate 32 is rigidly fixed to the wall 24. This adjustment isaccomplished by two adjustable devices disposed near the front and rearof the side wal1 24, respectively.

The front of the side wall 24 is adjusted later-- ally by means of adiagonal brace rod I2I, pivotally connected by a bolt I22 to theinclined frame member 20 and extending upwardly and laterally through asleeve I23 and through a suitable aperture in the flange of thetransverse frame member I9, the flange being bent downwardly andlaterally as indicated at I24. The

6 end pf the stripper plate rela- 5 side wall 14 isietereu ednameimember12c laterally with respect to the gear .easin'g 7.31. The gear casing.31 is provided withla downwardly extending .fiange ,(Figure m'aperturedt receivea pairof threadedbolts 1 3.1 which also extend through'alignedapertures in the vertical flange .of the horizontal .angle member 23,the latter being bent outwardly as .indicatedat I32 .tospacetherear endof the frame member 2.3 mm the flange 130.. The bolts .I3I are rov dedwith nuts 133, which are tighte ed rigidly a a n t the vertical hence ofthe mem r 2.3., clampin the'latter between the nuts I23 and the heads ofthe bolts 1.3L A second pair of nuts 34 is provid dlon each of the bolts1 1 on nes te sides of the flange 130., respectively. The be ts 131 canbe shifted laterally with respe t h flan e I30 by adinstmentof the nutsI 34, and $1198 the bolts .13! are rigid with respect to the framemember 23, the latter is shifted thereby to shift the side WEI/1124 andtherefore the stripper plate 3? which is rigidly fixed thereto.

A stalk depressor 135 is provided in the form of a stub shaft rotatablymounted on a bolt I36 which extends through a suitable aperture in theside wall 24 and the frame member 23. The stub shaft I35 extendslaterally across the passage between the stripper plate 32 and thestripper roll 30 and is spaced ahead of the rear end of the stripperroll to engage tall plants and cause them to be pulled downwardlybetween the stripper roll and plate as the implement moves forwardly,before the plants are pushed to the rear of the stripper roll and becomeentangled therewith.

The upper end of the stripper roll 30 is provided with a plurality ofaxially and peripherally spaced pins or pegs I40, which extend from therear end of the stripper roll 30 to points slightly ahead of the stalkdepressor I35. It is found that in certain conditions, where there aretall weeds among the cotton plants, the weeds tend to pull out by theroots and, without the pins I40, the weeds merely hang over the upperend of the stripper roll and accumulate there until the mechanism isclogged, or until the weeds are pulled out by hand. However, the pins orpegs I40 either chew up the weeds, or pull the tall stalks up into thecleaning housing 48 where they are torn up by the pin rolls.

I do not intend my invention to be limited to the exact details shownand described herein.

I claim:

1. In a cotton harvester, the combination in cluding: frame structure;stripping means carried by the frame structure and comprising a pair ofside-by-side stripping elements defining between them an elongated slotfor receiving cotton plants, said elements being operative to stripcotton upwardly from such plants; cotton-receiving trough means carriedby the frame structure alongside the stripping means for receivingstripped cotton from the stripping means; and conveying apparatus on theframe structure cooperative with the trough means and comprising meansfor causing currents of air to move crosswise of and over the strippingmeans and toward the trough means for facilitating the transfer ofstripped cottom from the stripping means to the trough means, andmovable means for positively engaging and moving the transferred cottonalong the trough means.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, further characterized in that: themeans for causing the air currents includes a plurality of airpropellers positioned overthe trough means and rotatable on axes spacedapart lengthwise of the trough.

3. The invention defined in claim 2, further characterized in that: themeans for positively engaging the transferred cotton includes rotatablecotton impellers respectively coaxial with certain of the airpropellers.

4. In a cotton harvester, the combination ineluding: frame structure;stripping means carried by the frame structure and comprising a pair ofside-by-side elements defining between them an elongated slot forreceiving cotton plants and operative to strip cotton upwardly from suchplants so that such stripped cotton may be at least temporarilysupported by and on top of said, elements; cotton-receiving trough meanscar-- ried by the frame structure alongside the stripping elements andhaving floor means below the level of the top of the stripping means;and apparatus on the frame structure for causing the transfer ofstripped cotton from the stripping means to the trough means and forcausing movement of the transferred cotton along the floor means of thetrough means, comprising a plurality of rotatable means spacedlengthwise along the trough means and rotatable respectively on axestransverse to the length of the trough means, each rotatable meanshaving radial arms thereon describing a circle having a portion thereofabove the level of the stripper means and another portion adjacent thefloor means of the trough means, certain of the radial arms being shapedto cause the movement of air currents crosswise of and above thestripping means to facilitate transfer of stripped cotton to the trough,and certain of the arms comprising beater members to positively engageand move the transferred cotton along the floor means of the troughmeans.

MERRILL W. ROSCOE.

References Cited in the file Of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 555,439 Edgar Feb. 25, 1896 1,169,915 Beran Feb. 1, 19162,001,079 Court May 14, 1935 2,406,058 Boone Aug. 20, 1946

